Utah city undergoes its own metamorphosis during nationwide project to create monarch butterfly murals

(Benjamin Zack | Standard-Examiner) Jane Kim works on the 260-foot-long monarch butterfly mural in central Ogden on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018. The new op-art mural is connected the Monarch Building which is being restored as an arts and event center along 25th Street.

A series of murals depicting the life cycle of a monarch butterfly is taking shape in Ogden.

The nationwide Migrating Mural project is the brainchild of artist Jane Kim and her business partner, Thayer Walker, the Standard-Examiner reported.

The two co-founded Ink Dwell Art Studio in Half Moon Bay, Calif.

"We create art that inspires people to love and protect the natural world, focusing on large-scale public installations," Walker said.

Ink Dwell's current focus is the murals, which are scattered in seemingly random spots around the country.

There’s a caterpillar and an array of monarch butterflies on the side of an air traffic control tower at the airport in Springdale, Ark. Images of the butterfly appear on the facade of a building at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla. There also are monarchs on a building in downtown Orlando, Fla.

The art project is making a stop in Ogden this month and next.

Kim recently moved to the second phase of the Ogden project, where she's painting a huge outdoor mural at the town's newly restored Monarch building. The piece is created in the style of the optical art movement from the 1960s.

"This one we're doing on the Monarch building is really cool," Walker said. "This is something Jane's wanted to do for a while. The black-and-white spots of the monarch reminded Jane of the op art movement, and it's a very unique piece. She's never done anything like it before."

Kim and her team will move on to the third and final phase of the Ogden installation — creating a monochrome mural in the Kimball Visual Arts Center at Weber State University. Kim will present a lecture at 6 p.m. Oct. 12 in the center's Lindquist Lecture Hall.

Walker said they would eventually like to create 15 to 20 monarch murals in places around the country.

Kim said she hopes to extend her murals into Mexico and Canada.

She said her goal is just to use her murals to beautify and unite people.